It is desirable to reduce the noise that an aircraft makes when it is operating, for example to lessen disruption or inconvenience. There also exist regulations that limit the noise that an aircraft may make-when taking off and landing. Two main elements combine to create the noise of an aircraft flying; the engine noise and the airframe noise produced by the air flowing past the aircraft, which results in turbulent flows and consequently noise. When an aircraft takes off the engine noise dominates the airframe noise as the engines are on full power. However, when an aircraft lands the engines are on flight idle, a reduced power level, exposing the airframe noise, which dominates by producing about half of the noise created. A significant contribution to the airframe noise is made by the aircraft landing gear, which for safety reasons are typically deployed early when landing.
A typical landing gear 101 on an aircraft (as shown in FIG. 1) is movable between a stowed and deployed position. The stowed position is when the landing gear is retracted and housed within either the wings or body of the aircraft. The deployed position is when the landing gear is extended prior to landing. The landing gear 101 includes a main fitting 102, a side stay 103, a lock stay 104 and a down lock actuator 105. The side stay 103 is foldable in order to enable the landing gear 101 to move between the stowed and deployed positions and therefore in order to offer support to the main fitting 102 it is locked into a slightly over centre position by the lock stay 104 which is in turn locked by the down lock actuator 105. As with the rest of the landing gear 101 the folding side stay and the lock stay 104 each contribute to airframe noise by displacing air as the aircraft flies.